Increased Use of Women and Minorities in Military Aviation Maintenance

In: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/65874

Abstract

Published in Final Report, Human Factors Issues in Aircraft Maintenance and Inspection, "The Aviation Maintenance Technician". Report of a Meeting 12-13 December 1990, Alexandria, Virginia ; This paper was presented at the Fourth Federal Aviation Administration Meeting on Human Factors Issues in Aircraft Maintenance and Inspection in Alexandria, Virginia, December 1990. The meeting was sponsored by the Office of Aviation Medicine in the Federal Aviation Administration. The paper was published subsequently in a Conference Proceedings in June 1991 (pp. 154-178). This paper examines patterns of assignment to aviation maintenance occupations across U.S. military services by racial/ethnic group and gender. Assignment patterns are shown as of June 1990 and for selected years, 1972-1990 by five categories of aviation maintenance occupations (general aircraft, engines, accessories, structures, and launch equipment). The author then evaluates possible reasons for participation trends by women and minorities, including projected qualification rates for assignment to aviation maintenance training within each of the military services. Additionally, the author examines continuation rates of women and minorities assigned to aviation maintenance occupations over the 16-year period from 1974-1990. The discussion is more descriptive than prescriptive, although several important issues are noted. One important finding is the continuing underrepresentation of women and minorities in these jobs, strongly influenced by the military's tests to determine eligibility for training. ; Prepared for Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Branch Office of Aviation Medicine, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation